“It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea..." Edgar Allan Poe

01 May 2014

A penny for the ferryman

Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, S.C.

While
visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain
graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.

These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those
who gave their life while serving in America's military, and these
meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.

A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to
the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave
to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you
visited.

A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp
together, while a dime means you served with him in some capacity. By
leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were
with the soldier when he was killed.

According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries
and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are
put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent
veterans.

In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam war, due to
the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a coin was
seen as a more practical way to communicate that you had visited the
grave than contacting the soldier's family, which could devolve into an
uncomfortable argument over politics relating to the war.

Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a "down payment" to buy their
fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally
be reunited.

I have often noted tokens left on tombstones and wondered at their meaning. Pebbles, toys, golf balls etc., but I wasn't certain of the meaning of the coins in the oyster shells at the graves of the Hunley submariner tombs. Doing a little research I discovered that it was particularly a custom to leave coins on military tombs. Some sites mentioned that different coins had different meanings. In an explanation on snopes.com a quarter meant that the visitor had been with the soldier when he died. Considering the Hunley sank in 1864 I don't believe that is the case here. If it is, this is a more interesting cemetery than even I knew!

Why are pennies put on a grave? Some people hold to the tradition of leaving something of yourself when
visiting a grave. If nothing else, a coin from your pocket serves as a
marker of your passage and esteem for the departed. It also signifies to
any that pass by that the grave was visited, and that the deceased is
well loved and esteemed and has not been abandoned or forgotten. Coins
are also an older form of leaving flowers, a practice prompted by the
heavy Romanticism of the Victorian era.

While
visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain
graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.

These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those
who gave their life while serving in America's military, and these
meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.

A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to
the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave
to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you
visited.

A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp
together, while a dime means you served with him in some capacity. By
leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were
with the soldier when he was killed.

According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries
and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are
put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent
veterans.

In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam war, due to
the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a coin was
seen as a more practical way to communicate that you had visited the
grave than contacting the soldier's family, which could devolve into an
uncomfortable argument over politics relating to the war.

Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a "down payment" to buy their
fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally
be reunited.

While
visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain
graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.

These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those
who gave their life while serving in America's military, and these
meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.

A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to
the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave
to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you
visited.

A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp
together, while a dime means you served with him in some capacity. By
leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were
with the soldier when he was killed.

According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries
and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are
put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent
veterans.

In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam war, due to
the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a coin was
seen as a more practical way to communicate that you had visited the
grave than contacting the soldier's family, which could devolve into an
uncomfortable argument over politics relating to the war.

Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a "down payment" to buy their
fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally
be reunited.